


Family Reunion

by Verecunda



Category: Horrible Histories
Genre: Family, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Romance, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 14:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verecunda/pseuds/Verecunda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Hierocles learns that Elagabalus can actually use his powers for good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to either the _Horrible Histories_ books or TV series.
> 
> A/N: Based on a throwaway remark from Cassius Dio's biography of Elagabalus. Dio thought it was disgraceful, but I think it's unbelievably adorable.

“C’mon. _Guess._ ”

Hierocles thought for a moment, before deciding to go for the tried-and-true option. “A lion.”

“ _Huhuh._ Nope, guess again!”

“Er...” Hierocles bit his lip. “I don’t know... something poisonous?”

“Uh-uh.” Elagabalus shook his head, grinning. “Keep guessing. _Huhuhuh._ ”

“Gods.” Hierocles scratched the back of his head as he racked his brains. Elagabalus was wearing that grin, and had that _gleam_ in his eyes which usually meant this was some new scheme that he was especially proud of, which usually meant terrible things for all sane people within a three-mile radius. And there was no chance of him guessing what went through Elagabalus’ head.

“I don’t know,” he said at last, shrugging.

“ _Huhuh._ ” Elagabalus was beside himself, practically bouncing up and down on the spot. “It’s well wicked, man. Wanna clue?”

“Please.”

“ _We-ell_... took me ages to find.”

Hierocles raised an eyebrow. “That... doesn’t narrow it down.”

“Uh. How ’bout... um... _huhuhuh!_ ” He burst into helpless laughter and lunged forward, grabbing Hierocles’ hands and grinning at him, dark eyes positively shining. “I just _know_ you’re gonna love it!”

“Oh, gods.” Hierocles grimaced. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“ _Huhuhuh._ Don’t be. It’s nothing _random_. Promise.”

Hierocles scrutinised him, taking in his obvious excitement. It was the sort of excitement that he usually reserved for terrorising his subjects - usually with snakes or dead dogs - but there was something different about it now, something different about his wide, open smile and shining eyes. Something totally benign.

That piqued Hierocles’ curiosity. As a general rule, Elagabalus’ pranks were anything but benign. But far be it for Hierocles to complain. At least it meant that whatever Elagabalus had hidden behind that door, it wasn’t likely to kill him.

“All right, Laggy,” he said, giving in. “Let’s see this surprise of yours.”

Elagabalus just grinned, before pushing the door open. “Ta-da! _Huhuhuh_...”

With a lingering sense of trepidation, Hierocles stepped into the room - and stopped dead. For a second, he thought he must be seeing things, or just plain imagining it.

It couldn’t be. That was just impossible.

There was a woman sitting on a couch: a slim, middle-aged woman with blonde hair. A very familiar woman. A woman Hierocles hadn’t seen in years.

“ _Mum?_ ”

At the sound of his voice, she jumped up from the couch as if she’d burnt herself on it. Then she turned, saw him, and her blue eyes went wide.

“Hierocles?”

Next thing he knew, he’d crossed the room in a heartbeat and they were both clutching each other tightly. Dazed with disbelief, Hierocles couldn’t help but wonder if this was just a dream, but it wasn’t. This was _real_. She was really here.

The years they’d been apart seemed to catch up with him all at once, and he clutched onto her for dear life, terrified that she’d vanish into thin air if he let her go. He was suddenly hit by an all-too-vivid flash of memory of the last time he’d seen her, when he was barely higher than her waist, of him crying and that terrible look of helplessness on her face as they’d dragged him off to the auction block. For an instant it seemed that no time at all had passed since then, even though he was now taller than she was, and she was the one who now felt very small and fragile as he held her.

When they could finally bear to let each other go, Hierocles realised that she was trembling slightly, and saw that her eyes were shining with tears. His own stung a bit in response. Embarrassed, he rubbed them.

“Oh, my Hierocles!” she breathed, framing his face with her hands. “Look at you!”

“Mum...” He could hardly find the words to speak. “What... _how_...?”

He was answered by a laugh from across the room. “ _Huhuhuh._ ” They both turned, just as Elagabalus bounced over to them, his whole face alight. “It was _me_! I had her brought here!” He looked between them both, then said to Hierocles, “Sooo... are you going to introduce us, or what?”

Hierocles was still stunned, and still stumbling over the whats and hows and whys of the whole situation, but he managed to find enough coherence to make the most bizarre introduction of his life:

“Er - yeah. Laggy, this is my mum, Eirene. Mum, this is the Emperor Elagabalus -”

“I’m his wife!” Elagabalus interrupted brightly.

Hierocles couldn’t remember his mother to have ever been shocked by anything, and to her credit, she only looked very mildly surprised now, and she even smiled. “Well... it’s an honour to be your mother-in-law, Caesar.”

“ _Huhuh._ I like her,” declared Elagabalus, latching onto Hierocles’ side. 

Hierocles smiled, wrapping his arm round Elagabalus’ shoulders, then looked at his mother. “So, Mum. What happened?”

Eirene shrugged lightly. “Some Praetorian Guards showed up one day at the house where I was working. They showed my master a letter signed by the Emperor -” she glanced at Elagabalus - “which said that by Imperial decree I was to be given my freedom and brought to Rome.” She gave a wry smile. “My master wasn’t very happy about it, I can tell you, but I don’t think he felt like arguing with the Praetorians. So they escorted me to Rome, and brought me to the palace, and here I am. I had no idea why the Emperor wanted me at the palace -” she sent another glance at Elagabalus, who was now nuzzling Hierocles’ neck - “but I understand now.”

Hierocles couldn’t help laughing. At the same time, Elagabalus spoke up again:

“Ooh! Yeah, I’ve passed another decree that says your mum is now a matron of consular rank. She’s to be honoured in the same way as _my_ mum, or my nan. It’s well wicked.” He grinned at her. “Welcome to the Imperial family, _Lady_ Eirene! I’ve had rooms made up for you in the palace already.” At the look on Hierocles’ face, he added quickly, “No lions. Your mum’s rooms are a totally lion-free zone, promise!”

“Lions?” asked Eirene, blinking.

“You don’t want to know,” muttered Hierocles.

“ _Anyway_ ,” said Elagabalus. “You two’ll have a lot of catching up to do, I bet, and the _Come Dine With Me_ people are gonna be here soon, so I better go!”

With that, he hugged Eirene and kissed her on the cheek, before throwing himself at Hierocles and planting a kiss on his lips. “Sooo... see you later, hubs! I better get to the kitchens and see how it’s all coming along. _Huhuhuh_.”

And with that he was gone, leaving Hierocles and Eirene alone.

“Well,” said Eirene. “He seems...”

“Insane?” Hierocles supplied.

“I didn’t want to say, but... yes.” She smiled at him. “It definitely sounds like there’s a story here.”

Hierocles laughed. “Yeah... we really do have a lot of catching up to do, don’t we?” He hugged her again. “I’ve missed you so much, Mum.”

She stroked his hair, leaning up to kiss his forehead. “And I’ve missed you, too, love.” She drew back and smiled. “Now, I want to hear how my boy ended up married to the Emperor.”

-

Elagabalus yawned, giggling madly as he returned to his bedroom. All in all, it had been a pretty successful night. One guest eaten by a lion, the others all well confused by his fake food, and the camel heels had been cooked just the way he liked him. Yep, it had been a well wicked night. Now he just needed to find out how things had gone with Hierocles and his mum...

He opened the door to his room and slipped inside, and was immediately met by a pair of strong arms that wrapped themselves around his waist. “Come here, you.”

Elagabalus grinned, and tilted his face up as Hierocles pulled him into a searing kiss that just about knocked all the breath out his lungs. When Hierocles finally let him go, he chuckled. “ _Huhuh._ What’d I do to deserve that?”

Hierocles’ response was to pull him in for another kiss, then another, murmuring in between, “Thank you, Varius. Thank you so much.”

“Is your mum all settled in her new rooms, then?”

Hierocles nodded. “Yeah, I made sure she had everything she needed. She told me to thank you.” He took Elagabalus’ hands in his own, and the sheer wonder in his face took Elagabalus’ breath away even more than the kisses had done. “I still don’t understand... how did you do it? How did you find her?”

Elagabalus shrugged. “Well, when you’re Emperor, you have all sorts of info at your disposal, right?”

“But she could’ve been anywhere in the Empire!”

“Yeah, but it was _so_ worth it!”

“Why, though?” asked Hierocles, shaking his head, bewildered.

Elagabalus smiled, and wrapped his arms round Hierocles’ neck. “’Cause you told me that you well missed her, and I couldn’t wait to see your smile when you saw her.” He raised his hands and let his fingers play with the hair at Hierocles’ temples. “You put up with so much randomness from me; I just wanted to do something nice for you.” He placed a kiss against Hierocles’ mouth. “I love you, Hierocles, I do.”

For a moment, Hierocles’ face was unreadable. Then something lit up in his eyes and his whole face transformed, and he drew Elagabalus into his arms, burying his face in his hair. “I love you, too, Varius,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I love you so much. I can never, ever repay you for this.”

Elagabalus rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t about getting repaid, _idiot_.” Then he smirked, letting his hand trail up Hierocles’ arm. “Although...”

Hierocles raised an eyebrow. “See, I knew you’d have an ulterior motive,” he teased.

“ _Huhuhuh._ ” Elagabalus held on as Hierocles hitched him up and carried him across the room to deposit him gently on the bed. “You know you love me like this, man.”

Hierocles followed him down, drawing him in for another kiss. “I do. Gods help me, I do.”


End file.
